Underneath the Masks
by Lucicelo
Summary: Naruto!AU: After an argument in the anbu changing rooms, Lion and Bear come to a resolution to change their lives.


_**A/N: I'm slowly editing all my fics on account of the errors I missed while writing them. **_

_**Lion is Hiroki and Bear is Nowaki. **_

_**-Lucicelo**_

* * *

An unsettling wave of doom passed through the remaining anbu black ops as they walked behind Lion and Bear. The usual calmness that came from returning alive had shifted to an uncomfortable tension between the two cordial shinobi. Their captain ignored the unusual shift to relay their successful mission report to their hokage. This left everyone else to take the brunt of the awkward silence as they made it into headquarters.

The other anbu rushed toward the restrooms, their beds, the kitchens, or to their own private oasis to put their minds away from their mission. Many of them saw no use in waiting out an argument between two shinobi when they had other things to do. They could always change in the morning.

Once Bear and Lion left toward the changing area, Cat piped up. "Well, looks like we'll be out here for a while." She went to one of the couches and slumped onto the soft cushions. "Get comfortable."

Boar groaned. "Let's hope either one of those two apologizes soon so I can change out of these pants." The blood clung his pants in the most uncomfortable places on his skin. "Doesn't matter. I'm hungry."

The newest anbu recruit, Hound, remained behind. He wanted to collect the weapons that he left in those exact changing rooms. Although, from the reaction of the anbu, none of them wanted to go interrupt those two particular shinobi. He didn't want to stir any controversy in his first week there, so he refrained from entering the rooms without a care.

Hound went near Boar to ask him. "When will the fight end between these shinobi end?"

Boar reached underneath his mask and rubbed his face. "Soon. I'm just surprised it's those two that are fighting. I almost never catch them arguing or going out of sync." He leaned against the wall and yawned. "Then again, Lion and Bear are _close_."

Cat snorted. "_Close_? Close is putting it lightly." She hooked her legs together and placed her head on the headrest of the couch. "Hound, go there tomorrow morning."

* * *

The moment Lion and Bear entered through the threshold of the changing rooms, Lion shoved a bench in front of the door. Not that it would stop any shinobi from coming inside, but in his anger, he wanted to put in a physical indicator of no one disturbing them. Huffing out, he ignored Bear in order to pace back and forth to tire himself out a bit.

Bear stood to the side, waiting out the initial pacing that released Lion's frustrations. He learned early on in his training that Lion tended to say his worst words during his blinding fury stage. When he simmered down to anger, Lion articulated his words into less scathing and hurtful stabs to a person's heart. He witnessed such an event a few times, but Lion locked his fury on other people in their ranks.

Lion did his code name justice.

Bear broke out of his thoughts as Lion snapped his attention onto him. Lion stalked over to him and pushed him against the wall. Bear remained calm and collected, not at all sorry for his actions during their mission. He knew he would get a lecture from Lion, but he couldn't continue on the mission without him.

Lion kept a good grip on Bear's green vest to keep him from moving away. After a brief stare off, Lion growled out. "How fucking dare you get in the way, Bear. I could have handled the enemy myself. You unnecessarily put yourself in danger through returning for me."

Bear placed his hands onto Lion's quivering pair. "I won't apologize for my actions." He removed one of those hands and pressed them against the mouthpiece of his mask. "I would never live with myself had I not returned for you. We're a _team_."

Lion yanked his hand back and snapped. "You know what this job entails. The weakest gets left behind while the others complete the mission. You're one of the best on this department. You shouldn't make unnecessary risks for someone else." He released Bear's vest and shook his head. "You're on your way to becoming captain."

Bear reached out his hands and unhooked the straps from around Lion's mask. Taking it off, he looked down into those tear streaked brown eyes. His heart wrenched at seeing the true emotion from behind the mask. Lion always locked away his feelings until he hid himself in a private room to break down. After Bear found him crying one night, they promised to shed their tears in each others arms. Their bodies shielded the world from seeing their weakness for however long it took them to calm down.

Holding onto the straps of Lion's mask, Bear said. "Hiro-san, you know me far to well to think that I'm ever going to leave you behind." He cupped Hiroki's cheeks and rubbed his tears away. "And for a flimsy position at that. Captains don't last long. The mental trauma breaks even the strongest person down."

Hiroki averted his eyes. "I kept hearing rumors that you were in the running, Nowaki."

Nowaki chuckled. "No, no. I can't compare to the genius newbie that just joined the ranks. As young as he is, the captain already has his eye on promoting him soon." He took off his hands from Hiroki's face to remove his own mask and showed off his tired blue eyes. "A bad decision in my opinion."

Hiroki sighed. "I agree." He pinched Nowaki's cheeks with a frown. "You know the kid's name right?" Nowaki nodded his head with a solemn sigh. "Nothing we can do to stop him. I feel bad though. He just reminds me of that one kunoichi who wanted nothing more than to kill _all_ enemy ninja. Not that it was possi-"

Nowaki blurted out without thinking. "Let's retire together!"

Hiroki's hands paused in the air as he furrowed his brows. "Huh?"

Nowaki's face went red as he stammered out. "I-I was thinking, we should retire. Y-You know, go back to being regular jounin. I thought about becoming a medic-nin and you are an _amazing_ teacher."

"I _hate_ kids." Hiroki ruffled his own hair and winced at the amount of sweat.

"But, you taught me everything I know without any issue." Nowaki continued. "You can pick and choose the genin you want to teach. I almost got my own genin team before I signed up for anbu. It might be fun."

"Oh yes, teaching little brats how to be killers will be so much fun. Besides, you paid close attention to everything I said. Doesn't mean that a genin team will do the same." Hiroki rolled his eyes and took back his mask. "You were so naive back then." Nowaki wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "You wanted nothing more than to save everyone."

Nowaki pressed a kiss on Hiroki's temple. "I _still_ want to save everyone. Just...not through killing people with my own bare hands." He muttered the last sentence in Hiroki's ear. "I'm tired, Hiro-san. _Tired_. I want the nightmares to stop or to lessen a little bit. I can't even sleep well anymore."

Hiroki rubbed circles in Nowaki's back. "Why didn't you _say_ anything? You could have backed out way earlier. No one here would have put it against you. Everyone has a limit on how long they stay in anbu."

"But, not without _you_." Nowaki tightened his grip around Hiroki. "I want to retire alongside you. To live in a house outside of Konoha and to live somewhat domestically."

Hiroki burrowed his face into Nowaki's chest to hide his flushed face. "You're embarrassing."

Nowaki smiled light. "I'm shameless."

"Damn right." Hiroki muffled out. "I...still have my parents old house. We can move in there. It might be a bit dusty."

"We can use a weekend to air it out." Nowaki released some of his chakra and felt someone standing on the other side of the door. It looked like someone grew impatient for them to leave the room. "Do you think we should give in our resignation tomorrow morning?"

Hiroki looked up at Nowaki and his eyes locked on the scar underneath Nowaki's chin. "We have to set an appointment with the hokage and tell him alongside our captain. Best to get both of them over with so there's no confusion."

* * *

Nowaki shuffled on his doctor's coat before staring at himself in the small mirror he kept in his locker. After going through twelve hours, he still continued on going strong. Through using his chakra to boost his energy, he didn't have to take a break from working. Many of the medic-nin warned him about overworking himself. Many of the regular hospital staff tended to take advantage of ninja because of their methods to keep on going. He didn't mind. In his old occupation, he went through days without sleep, so working a whole day didn't tire him out.

The drawback from working so many days in a row came through missing Hiroki. Considering Hiroki now had three genin to look after, Nowaki didn't feel too guilty in tacking on the days. From seeing his lover's eyes twinkle when mentioning his _exceptional_ genin, the transition did more good than bad. Even with Hiroki's concerns of getting immature and talentless genin, Hiroki was a _natural_ teacher.

Closing his locker, he left the changing rooms to grab himself something to drink from one of the vending machines. He could have brought a large container of Hiroki's personal iced tea blend, but he left their home in such a hurry that he forgot. He suspected Hiroki took it to his training with his genin team and drank all of it.

He took out his money and picked his old favored tea blend. Once it fell onto the slot, he crouched down and grabbed it. He felt a presence come through the window and stood right behind him. Standing up straight, Nowaki turned and recognized the striking silver hair.

"Hound." Nowaki sighed at the injuries on the young man's body. "Do I have to patch you up after _every_ single mission?"

Hound shrugged his shoulders. "You don't ask questions."

"Follow me." Nowaki entered one of the empty rooms and closed the door when Hound entered inside. "I'm surprised you didn't think to go to my house first."

"I picked up your chakra signature and came straight here."

Nowaki collected the tools he needed from the cabinets. He could always use chakra to fix everything, but the body needed to recover on its own. "I know plenty of medic-nin who won't ask questions. Many of them treat anbu operatives in their off time as well."

"_You_ understand anbu."

Nowaki turned to Hound with a slight smile. "You only figured out I was ex-anbu by spying on me." He set the tray onto the bench and Hound removed his vest. "On my last day on anbu no less. Then again, I should have put up some privacy seals in the walls."

Hound harrumphed. "I was not spying. I was waiting on you to finish your _spat_ with your lover."

Nowaki uncapped the disinfectant and tipped the liquid onto the wound on Hound's arm.

"_Fuck_."

Nowaki tutted. "Oh, did that hurt? My apologies." He went through the motions of using his chakra to check Hound's body. He bandaged up Hound's wounds and then motioned for him to turn around. Pulling up Hound's shirt, he grimaced at the harsh burn mark on his back. "An ambush?"

Hound nodded. His mind swirled from the act. "Ambushed."

"I'm giving you some chakra infused antibiotics." Nowaki added cooling gel on Hound's back and applied the proper bandages. "You're running a fever from not coming straight to the hospital. Again. And don't try to argue, I did a diagnosis while I did my initial inspection."

Hound shook his head. "I'll sleep it off."

"You'll recover faster with the pills."

"No, thank you."

Nowaki snorted. "And here I thought Hiro-san was the only one _allergic_ to medicine."

Hound put his hand out. "Give me the medicine."

* * *

"Takahashi! Usami! Takatsuki! Keep the chakra consistent in the soles of your feet!" Hiroki cupped his hands onto the sides of his mouth and yelled up. "Takahashi! Pace yourself!"

Up in the trees, Misaki stopped in the middle of the tree with a tiring breath. Looking up, Shinobu almost caught up with Kaoruko to the top of the tree. Gulping, he tried not to look down at the distance he put in between himself and the ground. Kamijou-sensei always told him to keep going and to breathe through his nose.

At the thought of the cold, hard, ground, Misaki felt his control slipping. He made him press more chakra into the tree. Putting his hands on the tree, he stuck them on the tree to keep himself from falling. If his feet failed, he had his hands to stay on the tree.

Jumping down her tree, Kaoruko stopped at the same level as Misaki. "Misa-san? What's going on?"

Misaki blinked back his tears. "Um..."

Shinobu leaped down from his position and went to the same level as his team. "Hey, Misaki. You have great chakra control, for a dumbass."

Kaoruko glared at Shinobu. "Takatsuki!"

More tears appeared in Misaki's eyes and his bottom lip trembled.

Shinobu continued. "But, you have far more determination than other genin I know. You ended up beating that jerk Sumi in a taijutsu spar because he called your brother an idiot. Collect yourself and we'll keep your pace."

Kaoruko nodded her head. "Yeah! We'll be right by your side."

Misaki used his shoulders to wipe away his tears. "O-Okay." After a minute, Misaki removed his hands from the tree and took it one step at a time. Looking to his left and right, he smiled at the sight of Shinobu and Kaoruko keeping their work in staying at his side.

When they made their return, Hiroki patted his genins shoulders for making it to the top. "Good job. I'm especially proud of the fact that _all_ three of you went to the top. With all that is taught in the academy, what they don't put emphasis in is teamwork. Remember, as a genin team, you three have to watch each others backs during dangerous missions."

Shinobu and Kaoruko held onto Misaki's hand with determination in their faces.

"On the improvements, Takahashi, you need to focus on the task in hand." Hiroki looked down at Misaki. "I understand that you have a fear of heights, and we will work on lessening this fear. Doesn't help that it got dark in the middle of this exercise." He ruffled Misaki's hair. "We _all_ have confidence in your abilities. Got it?"

Misaki nodded his head with a twinkle in his eye. "Yes, Kamijou-sensei!"

Hiroki turned his attention to Shinobu and Kaoruko to give them their criticism. Shinobu soaked in the information and already began planning on ways to improve. Kaoruko pondered about cutting her hair shorter to lessen the load on her head.

Hiroki motioned for his genin to follow him. "Let's go eat."

Misaki, Shinobu, and Kaoruko snapped their heads toward their teacher in surprise.

Hiroki arched a brow. "You three are not going home with empty stomachs. I'm not about to have your families on my ass for letting you collapse from overworking." He noted the uncomfortable posture of Kaoruko. "There's a hot spring nearby my home as well."

The mere mention of a hot spring caused Kaoruko to beam in excitement. She missed her old upbringing before becoming a kunoichi, but she decided on the Usami way. The idea of pampering herself came as a reward from working herself to the bone. Her mother would like nothing more than for her to quit and to resume her noble lifestyle.

Misaki and Shinobu were pumped to have hot water relaxing their muscles. Misaki had only gone to the hot springs once or twice in his life. Shinobu wanted to have time to his thoughts before he went back home.

Once they made it to their teacher's home, they were surprised to see a good sized cottage. There were multiple plants surrounding the home, a swing sort of bench in the front deck, and the paint didn't seem eye cringing. Reading the old and worn out plaque in the front, they read the kanji for Kamijou. On top of it, was another one, which showed the last names Kusama _and_ Kamijou.

Hiroki opened the front door and said. "I'm home!"

"Hiro-san!" A large man appeared in front of their teacher and pulled him into a deep kiss.

The genin tried not to give into the urge to escape when the tall man appeared out of nowhere and kissed the life out of their teacher. They thought Kamijou-sensei would maim or even wound the stranger for daring to kiss him. Seconds passed, Kamijou-sensei didn't do anything other than hugging the man back and giving him a peck when the kiss ended.

"Oops!" Nowaki cheekily grinned. "Sorry, kids. I missed him too much is all. The hospital tends to keep me overtime so I don't get to see Hiro-san very often."

Hiroki slapped Nowaki's chest and rolled his eyes. "Thank you for _ruining_ my image," He looked down at his shell-shocked students. "This is Kusama Nowaki, my lover. A medic-nin."

Kaoruko, Shinobu, and Misaki bowed immediately. "A pleasure to meet you!"

Kaoruko smiled. "I'm Usami Kaoruko."

Shinobu nodded to Nowaki. "Takatsuki Shinobu."

Misaki grinned. "Takahashi Misaki."

Nowaki cooed over their polite introductions. "Oh, Hiro-san. They're so precious. No wonder you boast about their accomplishments over dinner."

Hiroki blushed and hit Nowaki's abdomen. "Don't say such things! They'll think I'll go easy on them!" He turned to his students and barked out. "Take off your sandals and report to the dining room."

"Yes, Kamijou-sensei!" All three students shuffled past the couple and removed their footwear before going straight to the dining room.

Huffing out, Hiroki said. "They're not half bad kids."

Nowaki pressed a kiss on Hiroki's temple. "Good thing I made extra pork cutlets for dinner. Genin are notorious for scarfing down their food without chewing. I have some medicine in case they get indigestion." He grabbed Hiroki's hand and lead him inside. "Guess who interrupted me from taking my break the other day."

Hiroki scoffed. "I don't even need to guess. You need to knock him out of these days so he can recover properly."

_ **The end.** _


End file.
